feature image photo by Dimitrios Kambouris / Staff via Getty Images
If you’ve been in the same internet nerd circles as me in the past few days, you might have seen rumors floating around that Hunter Schafer was potentially going to be the titular role in a live-action version of The Legend of Zelda. One of the most common types of comment I saw was that since Hunter Schafer so closely resembles the video game character, unlike with race- or gender-swapped characters who are sometimes called out for not being “accurate” and hiding behind false claims of just wanting to be “true to the source material,” bigots were going to have to be transphobic with their full chests to go against this idea.
Sadly, it seems these were, in fact, just rumors, and probably started as a fan cast, because that has happened before. And the Euphoria star has said she loved the games as a kid and was flattered by this comparison.
However, while the Zelda rumors are proving to be untrue, sources are now saying she might be up for a role in the MCU. It could be that the rumors she’s up for Mystique in the newest X-Men reboot are true after all, despite her playing coy on former red carpets, or maybe she’s being considered for something else entirely. We’ll probably get confirmation soon though, because supposedly with a director and writer set, they should be casting the new X-Men movie soon. It’ll be the first full X-Men feature since they were brought into the official Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Another queer rumor about this project has Ayo Edebiri set to play Storm, which would definitely be interesting. I have a feeling Ayo Edebiri’s Storm would be pretty different than Halle Berry’s. The MCU is severely lacking in LGBTQ+ characters and actors, so these two being added to the mix would be a welcome addition, in my opinion. And I know that casting Hunter Schafer as Mystique wouldn’t automatically mean that they were going to have the character be trans as well, but I think Mystique’s story specifically, with her shapeshifting ability, could be made richer and more compelling if that is explored.
Travel Down the Grapevine for More News
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+ Related, the original Broadway cast of Hamilton reunited for a medley at the Tony’s, including Ariana Debose reprising her role as The Bullet
+ The show Adults is like a new Broad City or New Girl buddy comedy about a gaggle of housemates, almost all of whom are sexually fluid
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+ Another member of the girl group KATSEYE has come out, happy pride!
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+ Miley Cyrus was heckled into singing The Climb at the Tribeca Film Festival because, despite saying she wasn’t going on tour, people thought they bought tickets to her tour
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The article about Mylie Cyrus’s fans is so sad. The fans who paid $800 for Tribeca Film Fest did so on resale sites, where it was advertised as a concert tour. Then they heckled her into an a cappella sing along. She did great handling this situation. I get why the fans felt misled (because they were lied to!) but this is why you shouldn’t buy tickets from resellers. The real villain here is VividSeats (and all those other scam resale sites) manipulating people and it’s only mentioned at the bottom of the article.
Respectfully no thank you not for Mystique. The Blue Origins retcon in 2023 saw four male Xmen staff members erase Mystique’s pregnancy with her son and changed the father from another man into herself. They changed her from a lesbian/bisexual rep character who adopted with her wife cause they couldn’t have a child to a trans character – changing her from her son’s mother into his father while her adopted daughter’s origins got cast aside. And no woman was allowed to be involved in the conversation. Needless to say it did not sell well. So taking a role that was always a female role played by a woman and changing it to trans rep is not okay. Keep Rebecca Romijn into the reboot. Nobody can beat her anyway. They tried.
Mystique, still bisexual, fathering the child with Destiny, still her wife, thank you very much, as mother, was her creator, Chris Claremont’s original plan, nixed at the time by editorial. Frankly, even if rarely explored until recent years, the biological fluidity of Mystique’s powers are a legitimate area for expansion.
Lesbians often adopt because they cannot procreate with eachother so yes you did take our representation away to serve somebody else’s. Are you a guy? Because that is part of the problem. Dave Cockrum created Nightcrawler and his plan from the start was to have Nightmare be his father. The character Kurt was designed after. It couldnt happen at the time because he was in Dr. Strange. Claremont got mad the Baron got retconned by Austen who wanted to give Dave a close second. So now Claremont took advantage of lgbt to spread false rumors that it was always the plan so he could take control. And Dave has passed away not knowing or approving this. Claremont did so at the expense of Xavier, Mystique, Destiny and Rogue’s origins which has been so damaging and a very anti women, anti adoption retcon by men for men to serve one male, Kurt.
But Destiny still gives birth to Nightcrawler, Mystique still to my knowledge identifies as a woman, there’s no erasure of their identities in that. Can women grow functional male genitalia and impregnate their wives in reality? Obviously not. But in this comic book reality, Mystique clearly can, because if you can change your biology on the level of transforming into animals, a temporary functioning penis isn’t that much more of a stretch, so if Mystique and Destiny desired a child, why wouldn’t they take that option if they so wished?
Mystique growing male genatalia is trans rep that’s the difference. Mystique can turn into animals and stuff but Xmen is not representing animals it is representing people and trying to be inclusive. However inclusivity is not taking away my rep to suit yours and that’s what you did to us and now you are defending it? Mystique and her wife were a lesbian/bi couple who could not have a child and that’s why they adopted one. That was true for real life lesbian and now you took that representation away from us to claim it for yourself.
Mystique’s pregnancy was erased. Destiny was turned into and awful wife for this who blackmailed her to wife to sleep with a man and now to take in a random child because she “lost bio boy Kurt”. What you have done to Destiny and Mystique has hurt our lesbian rep because you changed them as a couple too.
Men did this to serve men. And now men defend it. Ironic.
Also lets not forget how Rogue and her origins got pushed aside. Claremont infamously treats her badly and adoption period.
Enough is enough. You have caused us pain and you have hurt us. Many in the trans community are clearly against lesbians and women because otherwise tell me why you keep demonstrating a desire to take from us and walk all over us? Hunter will open a can of worms bigtime. I respect them in Euphoria. I won’t respect Hunter if they take this role after Blue Origins intentionally hurt us and did so much damage.
Mystique and Destiny had a child and her name is Rogue. The problem is she wasn’t valid enough for you. Shame on you.
As for men trying to make Destiny pregnant by the way, I remember one brave indie publication who wasn’t paid by Marvel calling that scene out too. Destiny had sweat pouring off her face and it was an unnecessary graphic scene of her giving birth on all fours like an animal. The publication labelled that image misogynistic and multiple images of Destiny and Mystique were misogynistic and ferishized for the male gaze in this retcon. I mean Simon Spurrier who wrote this also wrote that Kurt fantasized about sleeping with Rogue. But this is the level of stuff you will defend and the people you defend. Nasty. And you wonder why women have trust issues?
Mystique was always a woman whose powers were separate from her gender. She can also change race and into animals. Who tried to change her? Men. Men messing with female rep to serve other men and one male character. The gene shaper “upgrade” is nonsensical. Now none of her children existing makes sense but especially not Rogue. She was no longer needed. And we can also talk about the terrible bio son favoritism over the adopted daughter and how bad that rep is now. Lilo and Stitch has nothing on this!
Imagine not knowing that originally Mystique was intended to sire Nightcrawler and not birth him, and still running up in the comments to throw a transphobic hissy fit. . .
Except she wasnt. Nightmare and Mystique were supposed to be his parents. This was never the OG intention and hence it does not work. So you are anti lesbian, anti female rep and anti adoption. Moreover Claremont says a lot of things. He told a Mississippi newspaper that if he wasn’t forced out of Marvel in 1991, he would have revealed Mystique to be Rogue’s birth mom. Also don’t say Claremont is for the women. I can give you many examples of bad things he did to Rogue alone which proves he isnt. And the way he made Kurt Catholic against his creator’s will, pretending he cared only to have Kurt a priest sleep with his sister Amanda Sefton. If the comics tanked what makes you think Hunter taking this role from Rebecca wont tank?
You should take a moment to gather your thoughts and present them in a clearer fashion before you continue on. Because this seems like a jumble of things you are big mad about and not a coherent point expressed in written English.
Is that all you got? I mean first of all do your research instead of spreading fake rumors. Mystique and Destiny were not in fact ever Nightcrawler’s intended parentage. Nightmare and Mystique were. Dave Cockrum and Len Wein created Nightcrawler and he is literally designed after Nightmare because they loved that character and wanted him to be the father. Claremont is a very disrespectful guy. Neither of these men are alive anymore and neither have a voice. So he has a nerve to be mad at Austen for retconning the Baron into Azazel and foiling his control when Austen just wanted to give the creators a character closer to Nightmare anyway.
There are literally multiple things wrong with the Blue Origins retcon. But if you can read that convoluted mess you can clearly follow my reply no problem.
Blue Origins is misogynistic, anti lesbian, men erased a pregnancy, it is anti adoption and disrespects Nightcrawler’s original creators. Dave co – created Mystique too fyi but you will never hear Claremont credit him.
Men blocked women from being part of a conversation about their own representation. It’s a very destructive and damaging retcon which especially impacted Mystique, Destiny, Xavier and Rogue’s origins.
And most of all? It didn’t sell and everything tied to it is falling apart too. Mystique can’t even sell well in her solos anymore. And that’s what men did to her.
Having Hunter embody all of that would be the worst move Marvel can make and the nail in their coffin. They NEED Xmen to SELL.
Mystique aside, Hunter might actually be a really fun cast for Dazzler if they ever utilize her in the MCU. Always thought the rumors of stunt casting an actual pop star to sell some crossover records would be a misfire, and since Dazzler’s mutant abilities are actually based in light manipulation, her narrative in the music business doesn’t have to be impressive anyway.
Ayo Edebiri being an American born half Nigerian and Caribbean is nice, but I wish the studios wouldn’t be afraid to seek out a full on African actress unknown. Someone who gets to have a break out moment in the role, rather than an established actor coming in and keeping the mantle for however long the contract is.
Hunter is a trans WOMAN. The transphobia is not pretty. Casting her would be a big risk because of the transphobic bigots. Similar to The Last of Us fans complaining about wokeness and completely missing the actually point of the material.
Sorry this was meant as a reply to Keiko.
Hunter being cast would only feed into the Blue Origins retcon which failed the comics because of its misogyny, anti lesbian and anti adoption stance. We aren’t going to encourage that from you. Rebecca Romijn is still Mystique and hopefully men don’t try to take that away from her because it will not go down well I promise.
Last of Us fans were complaining because again men mishandled lesbian rep. As a lesbian I would never call myself a father. That undermines my womanhood. Men as usual don’t respect us or do their research and they are controlling the female narrative to suit men.
Also aside from all the Blue Origins bs which is bad enough, I don’t want to see an actress cast who is younger than Rogue and most of Rogue’s fancasts are closer to 30 so nah not even buying it logistically either.
Whilst Blue Origins alone is reason enough to not want this, I also know it will be a poor decision to cast an actress for Mystique who is younger than Rogue’s actress and that too is what this is looking like.